


Unscripted

by Theladyofravenclaw



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Director AU, M/M, just some happy stuff and a little drama, victor is a director and screenwriter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-02-04 12:53:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12771507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theladyofravenclaw/pseuds/Theladyofravenclaw
Summary: Oscar nominated director Victor Nikiforov is in a rut after being snubbed by the academy for a second time. Deciding to take a vacation from filmmaking he finds himself in Hasetsu, hoping to find some peace and quiet while he ponders how to move forward in his career.Instead he finds something else.A story about finding inspiration in the people we meet and the stories they tell.





	1. Act I

 

_EXT. Beach - Day_

_It's a sunny day as a young man in his late twenties takes a stroll along the beach. The sun has barely risen and he lets the sound of seagulls fill his ears, reminding him of simpler times like when he was a child and his parents would let him run through the ocean on the weekends._

_He leans back against a railing and remembers a time when he used to enjoy his work, when he used to enjoy writing, and he lets these thoughts weigh on his mind until his phone goes off making him rolls his eyes before he pulls the small device out of his pocket and begins to talk._

* * *

 

“Hey, Chris.” Victor sighs, leaning back against the railing.

“How's it going you bum?” Chris’s voice rings out from the other end. “Just thought I should call you to make sure you haven't been kidnapped or died yet.”

“You're so dramatic it's just one year off.” Victor smiles.

“A year away from filmmaking for the amazing Victor Nikiforov?!” Chris gasps. “Why that's positively absurd! What would the academy say!”

“Not much I’d imagine.” Victor muses. “They've been snubbing me for the past two years, why would they care about what I’m doing now?”

“Two Oscar nominations not enough for you?”

“Not when they make a point to give the _award_ to someone else.”

“Whatever.” Chris says. “I still can't believe you're traveling to somewhere like Japan and you won't even entertain the idea of going to the big cities. Why is it so important you go to places like Hasetsu and not Tokyo?”

Victor smiles and gives a small shrug. Truth be told he's not too fond of widely populated areas, the streets are often too crowded and he can't even go shopping without someone recognizing his face, but nice quiet towns like Hasetsu allow him room to breathe and enjoy his time away from work. Sure, there are still people that recognize him and ask for the general selfie and autograph, but for the most part the people here seem to keep to themselves and give him space to do the same. The atmosphere and general feel of the area let him take in his surroundings and focus on new stories and ideas, which is very convenient since he's been dealing with writer's block since his last snub from the academy.

Right now, Hasetsu is exactly where he needs to be

“You know not all of us have a taste for big cities.” Victor smiles.

“Coming from someone who lives in Los Angeles?” Chris scoffs. “I honestly doubt that. Besides, what’s the point of a vacation in Japan if you can’t see all the sights and shop around?"

“There are sights here.” Victor tells him. “They have shops here.”

“Not what I meant.”

“Pray tell, what did you mean then?”

“Would it kill you to act like a tourist at least once in your life?” Chris asks him. “You never _actually_ take a vacation, you just find different places to seclude yourself and work to death.”

“Maybe you'd gain more perspective as an actor if you went to places that weren't all tourist traps.” Victor shrugs.

“Don't give me that crap!” Chris scoffs. “I know for a fact that you're staying at the only touristy place in that small town for an entire week! If I fall into tourist traps you sleep in them!”

“You know I can't go to a place with a hot springs and _not_ check into the hotel too.” Victor smiles. “Besides, it's my second day here I've barely even had time to try it since my jet lag last night was so bad.”

“Then why are you up so early it must be the crack of dawn down there!” Chris asks him.

The sound of playful barking pulls Victor away from the conversation for a few seconds and over to the large brown dog running around in the water without a care in the world.

“Makkachin wanted to go for a walk.” Victor tells him. “Who am I to ignore such a request?”

“You're such a dog person.”

“No shame in that.”

“Whatever.” Chris says. “I'll leave you to your dog. Don't have too much fun without me.”

“I'll make no such promises.” Victor smiles. “Bye Chris.”

“Later.” The call ends and he lowers the phone and puts it back in his pocket.

It's been five years since Victor Nikiforov quit acting to pursue a career behind the camera despite his parents better judgement.

It's been three months since he was nominated for Best Picture.

And only two months since they gave it to someone else again.

There's the phrase “It's honor to be nominated” that he hears people use all the time when they're in his situation but he can't help but feel like the words are just cold. He's been teased like this by the academy twice already for his films and it's starting to feel like he's just a name to fill a nominee box rather than someone these people actually respect.

It's frustrating.

It's infuriating.

It's something he needs to take a break from.

That's not to say though that Victor hasn't been trying to write these past few months. Sure he's been visiting different towns with the facade of needing a vacation but if he's quite honest with himself he's trying to find something to keep him writing with each place he settles into. Hasetsu is just one of the many small towns he plans on visiting on his journey for inspiration, and he really only has a little over a week here to accomplish that. But he can't really stress too much about that right now, afterall he's supposed to be relaxing on vacation.

At least until his dog runs too far into the ocean.

“Makkachin no!” Victor yells as he runs to pull his dog out of the water and back to shore.

After quite a bit of splashing and being dragged underwater and pushed into the sand Victor admits that he looks like a mess. Sticking the leash back on Makkachin’s collar he makes his way to the closest business he can find to dry off. He settles on a nearby ice rink with the words “Ice Castle” written on the building and makes his way inside.

“Hello?” He calls out.

“Oh, hello sir!” A woman greets him popping up from behind the desk. “I hope you don't mind but we’re still in the process of opening.”

“Oh don't worry about that, I was just hoping I could use your restroom real quick.” He tells her.

“No problem.” She smiles. “Down that hall to the right.”

“Thank you.” He sighs before making his way over and trying to get the dirt and sea water off his clothes.

Victor rinses himself off as best he can and is walking through the halls ready to head out when something catches his eye. He glances over at the doors leading to the rink and notices a small figure moving around on the ice. Full of curiosity he makes his way to the doors and pushes his way inside, the cold air filling his senses as the sight set in front of him stops him in his tracks.

Out on the ice, there is a man skating alone. 

The only sound that seems to be echoing in the area should be the scrape of ice as the man skates but even with the lack of a score Victor swears he can hear the sound of music flow from the skaters movements. Every step and glide the man seems to make is like watching a painter create a masterpiece before his very eyes. It’s enchanting to watch, so much so that Victor becomes afraid to look away should the mysterious figure disappear before he can decipher whether or not such a sight really exists. There are no cameras, no props, and no script but Victor can feel the story of longing and fear resonate throughout the room.

 _‘He's an artist.’_ Victor thinks to himself.

The skater prepares to make another jump, and before he can catch his bearings Victor watches him crash to the ground and roll on the ice. As if woken from his trance Victor takes a step forward to help before hearing a familiar voice call out.

“Yuuri!” Victor looks down and sees the woman from the desk rush onto the ice. 

He watches as the two interact, noticing how the skater flinches away from the woman’s attempts to help him up. Victor debates on whether or not he should stay any longer until the skater glances up at him. There's a brief second where their eyes meet but before he can really say anything Victor rushes out the door and back outside, a light blush dusting his cheeks. 

For just a moment, Victor could've sworn he's seen those brown eyes from somewhere before. 

The sound of Makkachin barking pulls him back into reality and he realizes that it might be best to head back to the small Inn. Thoughts of the mysterious skater still dancing in his mind, Victor makes his way back to the onsen he's staying at and lies down in his room.

He's actually pretty lucky that the hosts here allowed him to bring his dog, when he asked if it would be alright they assured him they would have absolutely no problem with him bringing his beloved companion along. He watches as Makkachin makes himself at home by curling up on the bed next to Victor and scratches behind the dog's ears until she falls asleep. Despite his dog’s fatigue from the morning Victor remains awake, too focused on thoughts of the skater from earlier.

It's not like Victor is a stranger to figure skating, especially not after his best friend married a former ice dancer, but never has he seen such raw emotion poured into one performance. It was as if he was making the music flow all around him, the story and struggle of love and separation being laid out onto the ice for the world to see and feel as he moved. He's never seen anything quite like it before, nothing as powerful or passionate in his life, and then it all came crashing down in one moment.

“Who was that Makkachin?” Victor asks his sleeping dog. “Who in the world could that possibly be?”

It's a strange feeling for Victor to witness someone tell a story with no need for words or cameras considering he's spent his whole life working in front and behind them. It makes him curious to know more, to see who this mysterious skater is and what other stories he can tell the world without the tools Victor’s spent his life using.

“Yuuri.” Victor muses, remembering the name the woman from the desk used earlier. “Who are you?”

Victor had the whole day planned out, he was going to spend time at the beach and walk around town taking in the sights and maybe even visit the ninja castle that he's heard people talk about from here. His day is planned to be full of excitement and normal touristy fun so he can enjoy his vacation while he has it. 

Which is why it makes no sense that he's spending hours on his laptop instead looking up ice skating videos.

Apparently typing “Yuuri ice skater” into google gives him a lot more results than he expected. He’s scrolls through a barrage of videos about a young Russian skater from this year and countless interviews about the “Russian Fairy” but is unable to find anything relating to the skater he saw earlier today. He watches a few of the routines from the young blonde boy and has to admit that he's impressed by his talent, but it just isn't the same.

He scrolls through a few other videos from this years competitions and watches all the different routines but is unable to really find anything close the skater he saw today. He almost feels like giving up when he sees a video dated to last year.

“That's him!” He exclaims, startling Makkachin from her nap. 

Victor watches the video and sees the same young man from this morning glide onto the ice in a blue costume and his hair slicked back. The crowd goes silent as he takes his stance and the camera closes up on his face as he takes a deep breath, his eyes cold and focused.

The music starts and Victor instantly recognizes the song, it’s the same one they used in their film last year, but as he watches the skater glide across the ice adding jumps and twirls he feels like the song no longer belongs to his work. The skater weaves a story through his movements, not unlike today, that leaves the audience enchanted and on the edge of their seats watching. Every jump he lands is met with a roar of applause, every spin met with admiration, and by the end of the dance the crowd is in love. It feels like waking up from a dream when the skater finishes his routine and the crowd showers him with gifts and applause as Victor watches him bow towards the audience and make his way over to his coach.

Despite the applause and praise coming from the audience Victor watches as the young man sits next to his coach with a frown on his face, almost like he’s disappointed in the performance he had that day.

“Yuuri Katsuki from Japan.” He hears the announcer's voice cut through, drawing the attention of the skater and the rest of the crowd.

He sees the numbers displayed at the bottom of the screen underneath the two and while he doesn’t really know what they mean he can understand the most important piece of information it has to give. 

First place. 

His coach turns to congratulate him on his success and the crowd cheers and applauds for him and yet he still looks upset. 

Disappointed. 

Victor looks through some of the other videos with Yuuri Katsuki in them, each routine as beautiful and heartfelt as the first, but no matter how many times Victor watched him win it never looked like it was enough. 

Victor can hear the buzzing of his phone and he looks over to see his parents calling him again. Rolling his eyes Victor puts the phone on silent and continues to look through the different videos from previous years.

It’s late into the evening when he finally decides to head downstairs to the kitchen for some dinner, a little upset at himself for wasting the day away when he swore he was going to try and enjoy his vacation. He orders the first thing on the menu and watches as one of the women there wrestles the remote away from everyone and switches the channel over.

“Up next, from Thailand, Phichit Chulanont.” The announcer says, and Victor can see a young man glide onto the ice with dark brown skin and eyes.

“It's been interesting to see Chulanont out there this season without Katsuki by his side.” One of the commentators says. 

“We were worried that he wouldn't have the same competitive spirit since his longtime rival and best friend decided to take a break this season.” Another one says. “But it seems like he's got the same spirit and passion as any other year.” 

“But he's got to look out if he wants to keep Plisetsky off his trail.” One of them laughs. 

“Well that's true for all of them.” They say before going silent and letting the music play.

Victor watches the skater go through the routine with grace and poise, adding emotion and depth to every turn and jump. While he's impressed he can't help but wonder what happened to the skater from this morning, who they are and why they would be missing from the season.

“Alright Minako, you've had too much to drink for one night.” He can hear the owners tell the woman by the tv. 

“It's just not fair!” She slurs out. “You know if Yuuri was there right now he’d be sweeping the podium like it was nothing.” 

“We know, we know.” The older woman nods her head. “Now come on, we should get you to bed before you do anything irrational.”

Victor watches her drag herself up and heave herself down the hall with the help of the elderly couple keeping her up. He finishes his meal and leaves a generous tip before heading back to his room and grabbing a towel. 

“I think the hot springs are still open.” He tells Makkachin. “I'm gonna try and soak in the water while I can.”

Giving his dog a quick pat on the head he makes his way to the baths. There's not as many people there since it looks pretty late but he makes his way to the back and lets himself slip into the outside spring. The water is very hot, but he's able to adjust and let himself relax into it. 

As he sits he ponders through the past few months and let's out a sigh. His parents have been calling him nonstop since the Oscars fiasco, not to mention how many times he's been asked to give an interview about whether or not he would take up acting again. 

Victor never cared too much about being a career actor, his parents were the ones that threw him into that as a child. Sure, he was good at it, but it also meant that very few people would take him seriously when he tried to branch off into writing and directing. 

He hasn't really allowed himself the time to relax since he started writing if he's quite honest. While Victor would like to just enjoy a normal vacation it's almost like he's wired not to. He wants to start working again, to put some new ideas down on paper and start writing. The only problem is, he doesn't know what to work on. 

Sure, he started working on something quick for Chris and his husband but it's not like he knows anything about ice skating or competitions. And asking Masu about it would ruin the gift so he scrapped the project. Other than that Victor has no clue what he should work on next, two movies and suddenly his mind's on empty when it comes to creative ideas. 

Maybe he made a mistake.

Shaking his head at the thought Victor gets up from the hot spring and dries himself off before grabbing his robe and heading back to his room. He tries to keep his mind from wandering back to work and doesn't notice when he collides with someone carrying a large stack of towels. As they both hit the ground Victor looks up at the person embarrassed and tries to to help them pick up all the towels they dropped. 

“I'm so sorry about that!” He says looking up at them only to stop in his tracks. 

“It's alright it was my fau-” They start before glancing up at Victor and stopping midsentence. 

Kneeling on the ground in front of Victor is the same ice skater from this morning in a large sweater and glasses. He looks at Victor with wide eyes and his hands let's go of the remaining towels. 

“It's you!” They both yell in unison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked the first chapter in this fic I'm gonna try and update this whenever I can I've been busy lately but I wanted to put this first chapter out there. I'm very excited to start working on this fic since it is something I've had in mind for a while and I hope you'll enjoy it as well. Comments are very much so appreciated and I will try to update the next chapter in a few weeks.  
> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

“You're Victor Niki-”

“-the ice skater from the rink!”

As soon as the words leave his mouth Victor can see the other man tense up.

“Oh, you saw that.” Yuuri says, trying to avoid eye contact. “Yeah, I guess that was you this morning then?”

A wave of embarrassment washes over Victor as he tries to figure out what to say to the ice skater kneeling on the ground next to him. Up close Victor can see that his face is more rounded than it was in the videos of his performances and it looks like he had put on some weight as well since the last competition Victor saw him in. But as he looks the other way to avoid Victor’s gaze with a blush on his face Victor can't help but notice that he is unfairly handsome.

“I'm sorry I didn't mean-”

“Will you have lunch with me?”

“What?” Yuuri asks, looking up confused.

A faint blush creeps up on Victor’s face as the ice skater continues to stare at him dumbfounded.

“Tomorrow.” Victor tries to continue. “Will you have lunch with me? I'm new to town and I don't really know too many places around so, yeah. Lunch?”

Still confused Yuuri gathers the rest of the towels in his arms and nods his head.

“Uh, s-sure?” Yuuri says. “I'm free at 1 tomorrow if you want to meet in the lobby?”

“Perfect!” Victor exclaims, a small unbelieving smile forming on his face. “Yeah, that sounds great.”

They both look at each other unsure of what to do before Victor stands up and offers Yuuri a hand.

“I'll see you tomorrow then?” Victor asks him.

“Yeah, I guess?” Yuuri tells him. “Lunch at 1?”

“Yeah.” Victor nods.

“Alright.” Yuuri smiles, and excited glimmer in his eyes. “Then yeah, tomorrow at 1.”

And with that Victor watches as he gives him a quick wave and turns his back to make his way down the hallway. Feeling his heart rapidly beating in his chest at the encounter Victor quickly makes his way back to his room and flops down on the bed the moment he is alone, letting out a loud groan into the mattress.

“Why did I do that?” Victor asks himself, heat rising to his face as he recounts the embarrassing hallway encounter. “Who just asks strangers to lunch?”

Clearly woken from her sleep Victor hears his dog make her way over to him and cuddle up next to him on the bed.

“Makkachin.” He says, looking over at his sleepy companion. “Why am I like this?”

His dog offers no response and happily drifts off to sleep, leaving him to toss and turn on his own for the night contemplating what to do when the morning comes around.

What _was_ he going to do?

He really had walked into this with no plan in mind quite honestly, Victor didn't know why he had asked this stranger to lunch with him he only knew he really wanted to talk to him. There are so many questions running through Victor's head at the moment he doesn't know how he's going to get any rest tonight but he tries.

As the morning rolls by Victor is woken by the sound of his phone ringing. Still half unconscious he rolls over to answer it without noticing the number.

“Hello?” He grumbles.

“Victor?” A woman's voice cuts through. “Is it early in the morning down there or something? Why aren't you awake yet?”

Victor groans at his mother’s questions and slowly sits up.

“Hey mom.” He says. “How are you and dad?”

“We'd be a lot better if we knew why our son was flying around the world for a whole year.” She huffs. “Seriously Victor, what were you thinking? Your father and I are worried sick about you!”

“That's a first.” Victor rolls his eyes.

“Don't start with me young man.” She tells him. “And then you don't even have the common decency to answer any of our calls either! What is wrong Victor? Where are you?”

“Nothing's wrong I just needed a break.” He sighs. “And I'm in Japan right now, I'm staying here for a week and then I was gonna make my way through Europe.”

“Are you ever planning on coming home?” She asks him.

“I will eventually.” He says. “You still haven't asked me about it yet.”

She hesitates for a moment.

“About what?” She asks.

“The whole reason you've been calling me nonstop for the past few weeks.” He tells her. “It's alright, you don't have to tiptoe around the subject just ask.”

There's a brief moment of silence as she hesitates and Victor thinks for a split second that she might let the whole thing go.

“Are you alright?” She asks him. “You know, one award show isn't the end of the world. You can come home at anytime.”

“No mom, I'm not alright.” He sighs, leaning back against the head of his bed. “I just need a little space for now, and I don't think dad is too happy with me at the moment anyways so I'm pretty sure coming home right now would be a big mistake.”

“We only want the best for you Victor.” She tells him. “And if it looks like this whole directing thing isn't working out there's no shame in-”

“I'm gonna stop you right there mom.” He interupts her. “I kinda have a busy day today so I'll have to call you another time.”

“Alright.” She sighs. “But call this time, you never call us anymore.”

“I will, I will.” He tells her. “Bye mom.”

He hangs up before she has a chance to say anything else and puts his phone back down on his dresser face down. Looking over he can see that Makkachin is still sleeping curled up next to him and he turns around to pet her soft fur.

_“You can come home at anytime.”_

He rolls his eyes, usually when she tells him that it means they want him to _“Come to his senses and stop messing around with this whole directing nonsense!”_ as his father once put it. He's not too inclined to go back home to that specific lecture at the moment, and would much rather worry about his lunch date than anything else.

Wait.

Victors eyes snap open as he frantically reaches for his phone to see the numbers 11:47 AM staring up at him. Heart beating out of his chest he leaps out of bed and starts frantically searching through his suitcase for something to wear for the day. Noticing his distress Makkachin wakes up from her sleep and makes her way over to him.

“I know you're hungry.” He tells her. “I'll get you breakfast later, I just need to get ready real quick.”

He sorts through his bag and ends up settling on a blue button up and a pair of jeans. He hears his phone go off again and sees a text from Chris pop up.

_Not to interrupt your vacation but I've got a premier coming up and Masu and I were wondering if you were gonna be able to make it?_

Victor reads through the message before texting back.

_Can I call you?_

It only takes a few minutes before he gets a reply.

_Sure just a sec._

A few moments later Victor’s phone starts ringing and he answers it.

“What did you do?” Chris asks him before he can even speak.

“Why do you always assume I did something when I need to call you?” Victor scoffs.

“Because I'm the one that calls to catch up in this relationship.” Chris tells him. “You're the one that calls when you've set something on fire or publicly humiliated yourself. So what did you do?”

“I think I accidentally got a lunch date.”

“Congratulations.”

“Wait there's more.” Victor tells him. “I also kinda freaked out and asked him out last night by screaming in his face and then running to my room. Plus my mom called this morning so I'm already off to a bad start and I have nothing to wear.”

There's a beat of silence as Chris takes in the information.

“And you need what?” He asks Victor. “Fashion advice?”

“Chris!”

“Well I'm being honest here!” He exclaims. “Why did you ask the guy out if you didn't want to go on a date with him!?”

“That's not what I said!”

“That's what it sounds like!”

“I didn't think it was a date in the moment!” Victor tells him. “I panicked I wanted to talk to him but I didn't want to freak him out!”

“So you asked him out instead!?”

“Yes!”

“Alright let's walk through this real quick.” Chris sighs. “So you have a lunch date today, you have nothing to wear to it, your mom called I think, and you're in general freaking out? Is that what I'm hearing?”

“Yes.”

“What clothes did you pack?” He asks Victor.

They end up going through his luggage together, all the while trying to assess the situation a little better. In the end they decide to stick to Victor’s original outfit and just style his hair a little bit.

“So who is this mystery date?” Chris asks him.

“Uh, he's an ice skater.” Victor tells him. “I saw him skating yesterday and I wanted to talk to him so when I ran into him I just panicked and asked him out.”

“Oh an ice skater.” Chris laughs. “What's their name? Maybe Masu knows them and can throw in a good word in case you screw this up.”

“I resent that, first of all.” Victor scoffs. “And his name is Yuuri Katsuki.”

There is complete silence on the other line as soon as he says this and Victor waits for his friend to respond.

“Chris?” He asks. “You still there?”

When there is still no reply Victor lets out a sigh.

“If you're not gonna answer then I'm just gonna-”

“What the fuck Victor.” Chris interrupts him. “What the actual fuck.”

“What?” Victor asks him. “Do you know him?”

“Of course I know him it's Yuuri Katsuki!” Chris exclaims. “Please tell me how exactly you managed to _accidentally_ get a _date_ with a world champion!?”

“I ran into him?” Victor says, unsure of how to react. “I asked if he would like to have lunch and then I ran away?”

“And he said yes!?”

“Yeah that's what I've been telling you this whole time we've been talking.” Victor sighs.

“Why do I get the impression you don't know who he is?” Chris asks him. “Please tell me that after three ice skating competitions you paid enough attention to at least recognize who he is.”

“Nope.” Victor tells him. “Why, what do you know about him?”

“Victor he's an Olympic gold medalist!” Chris yells. “He's literally one of the highest ranked ice skaters out there! We literally watched him compete last year!”

Victor thinks back to the competition that Chris brought him to last year. He really wasn't in the mood at the time to talk to anyone or do much considering he was too upset over losing the nomination for directing to another director who wasn't afraid to voice his opinion of Victor’s work. Other than sulking the whole day and getting drunk at the bar with Chris after the competition Victor didn't remember much about that day.

“I wasn't really paying attention when we went.” Victor tells him.

“Well remind me to never invite you to something like that again.” Chris scoffs. “He's a high profile ice skater that everyone is constantly battling for gold. He's been world champion consistently for four years until just recently but that's only because he took the season off.”

“How come he didn't compete this season?” Victor asks him.

“Official story was that he got injured at practice and had to take some time off.” Chris tells him. “The only news ice skating fans got after that was that he decided to take the season off and relax in his hometown before things went quiet. Nobody really knows what the plan is for this next season for him, hell nobody has heard from him in months. The amount of fangirls that would kill to have your luck is mind shattering.”

Victor remembers seeing Yuuri on the ice the other day. He remembers how beautiful it was to watch him dance and glide on the ice, how confident and emotional he looked skating compared to when he ran into him later in the day. He wonders how someone who can put that much emotion and heart into something could just stop all of a sudden.

“When are you going to meet up anyways?” Chris asks him.

“In less than an hour.” Victor says. “I should probably finish getting ready pretty soon.”

“Yeah no shit.” Chris sighs. “Let me know how it goes. Oh, and are you gonna be able to make the premier this next week?”

“I don't know Chris.” Victor tells him. “I'll try.”

“Alright, just let me know, good luck.”

“Thanks.”

With that Chris hangs up and Victor looks at the clock reading 12:39 PM. Letting out a sigh Victor finishes getting ready and leaves some food and water out for Makkachin before heading towards the lobby area.

Victor watches as the people move around him while he waits for Yuuri to show up. A few minutes roll by, then half an hour rolls by, and Victor eventually looks down at his watch to see 1:17 glaring up at him and feels his heart sink.

_‘I'm an idiot’_ He thinks to himself.

Deciding that this was just a really embarrassing mistake he decides to make his way back to his room. As he starts walking he hears someone call out from behind him.

“Hey you're that Nikiforov guy right?”

Victor turns around to see a young woman close to his age pointing at him. He recognizes her as the innkeeper's daughter that he met when he checked in.

“Yeah that's me.” Victor tells her.

“If you're looking for Yuuri you should be able to find him at the ice rink.” She says. “Sometimes his lessons run late and he gets home closer to 1:30.”

“Lessons?” Victor asks her.

“Yeah he teaches a couple of kids who live around here how to skate in the mornings.” She smiles. “It seems to get his mind off of things. If you want to find him though he should be there.”

“Thanks.” He smiles.

He watches her give him a quick nod before making her way back to the lobby and Victor heads out towards the ice rink from yesterday.

Still unfamiliar to the towns layout Victor finds himself only slightly lost as he wanders through the streets but is able to find his way back to the ice rink. When he walks in he notices the lady at the desk seems to be missing and he can once again hear the sound of people and ice scraping behind the door leading to the rink.

He walks in and sees a small group of children gathered around Yuuri as they listen intently to what he is telling them. In the middle of his lecture Yuuri seems to glance up and his eyes go wide with panic as he notices Victor. Quickly looking down at his watch he gives the kids a quick send off before ending the lesson and Victor can't help but smile as he watches the young students crowd around Yuuri’s legs asking him questions.

When the crowd finally seems to disperse and the kids make their way over to their parents Victor makes his way through the rink to where Yuuri is frantically unlacing his skates.

“Nice class you've got there.” Victor smiles.

“Y-yeah sorry about that.” Yuuri sighs. “I completely forgot about lessons today and got a little caught up trying to work on their form that I lost track of time.”

“It's fine don't worry about it.” Victor tells him. “So, you're a teacher then?”

“Yeah, kind of.” Yuuri says. “My friend Yuuko needed some extra help around the rink and since I wasn't doing anything in particular I volunteered. I got in a lot of requests to have lessons in the mornings after a couple of parents caught me showing her daughters a few tricks.”

“Yuuko?” Victor asks.

“Yeah she runs the desk most mornings.” Yuuri tells him. “She told me she met you yesterday and was instantly embarrassed that she didn't recognize you.”

“Oh.” Victor smirks. “So you're fans then?”

A deep red blush paints Yuuri’s cheeks at the comment and Victor can't help but let out a slight laugh.

“I-if that weirds you out I totally understand-”

“Don't worry about it.” Victor laughs. “It's always nice to meet someone who likes what I do.”

Victor can see the tension in Yuuri’s shoulders fall as he looks up at him with a shy expression.

“So what did you have in mind then?” Yuuri asks him. “I mean, for lunch that is.”

“Well I'm not quite sure to be honest.” Victor tells him. “I’ve only been here for a few days so I haven’t had a lot of time to walk around town. What do you recommend?”

Yuuri takes a moment to think before looking back up at him with a small smile.

“I might know a place.” He smiles.

Not fifteen minutes later Victor finds himself at a small bar that seems fairly empty except for the few customers trickling in throughout the day. The atmosphere is friendly and as he sits himself across from Yuuri he can’t help but settle into his new surroundings.

“An old family friend owns this bar so I thought it would be nice.” He tells Victor.

“Oh thats cool.” Victor says. “What kind of family friend?”

“My old ballet teacher actually.” Yuuri smiles. “She’s actually the one that got me into ice skating.”

“Really?” Victor asks. “That's interesting, I didn't know ballet often led to ice skating.”

“You'd be surprised.” Yuuri smiles. “She’s actually a huge fan of your work too.”

“Acting or directing?” Victor smirks. “Or is she one of those fans that prefers my ‘unique’ video art projects from college?”

“Oh come on those weren't-"

“So you have seen them.” Victor sighs, putting a hand to his forehead to add a dramatic flair. “My deepest apologies.”

Yuuri laughs at that and begins to shake his head.

“No I thought they were interesting.” Yuuri smiles. “But I do think I'm a bigger fan of your more mainstream films than anything.”

“Well that's always nice to hear.” Victor says. “What about you? Any experimental ice skating you're keeping hidden from your fans?”

“Less experimental and more embarrassing.” Yuuri sighs.

 

_INT. BAR - LATE AFTERNOON._

_The couple fall easily into a conversation as the time rolls by. We see them receive their meals and continue to laugh and smile while people come and go from the small bar._

_From the counter we can see the same woman from the inn who was watching ice skating the other day smiling as she watches them. We can tell that it's taking all her willpower to not go over there and introduce herself, so instead she keeps her distance and lets the two talk._

_As the sun begins to set the two gather their things and begin to walk back towards the inn, the last bit of sunlight illuminating their faces_.

 

“So what's it like?”

“What?” Yuuri asks him.

“What's it like to to be an international ice skater?” Victor asks, looking over at Yuuri. “What kind of life is that?”

“Uh, well, stressful.” Yuuri tells him. “There’s a lot of pressure to do good, practices take over most of your free time, and the competition is always getting stronger and tougher every year.”

“But there has to be some degree of love in it too right?” Victor smiles. “You can see it when you skate, someone as good as you has to at least love what they do don't they?”

“Yeah, there's definitely love in all my routines but passion doesn’t put you on the podium.” Yuuri scoffs. “Maybe love got me to put forward all my effort, but I only got to where I was because I worked for it.”

“Does that mean you’ll be skating next season then?” Victor glances at him.

Yuuri goes quiet for a few seconds before stopping next to Victor and looking towards the beach. He looks as if he is contemplating something as he stares off into the water before glancing back at Victor.

“What about you?” Yuuri asks him. “Why'd you stop acting?”

Victor smiles at him before shaking his head.

“If you want more than the tabloid answer I'm afraid I can't say too much about that.” Victor shrugs. “But if I tell you my secret will you tell me yours?”

Yuuri hesitates for a second before nodding his head and Victor sighs.

“Honest to god I just hated it.” Victor tells him. “I never really had any say in what I did or where I worked it was just one set right after the other. I wasn't even that interested in movies but for the longest time it was just the easiest way for my parents to keep an eye on me. I didn't mind doing the work since my parents were there with me, and when I started doing films on my own it wasn't a big deal, but I didn't really care for any of the work I did. I decided to work behind the camera after one of my directors asked for my help looking over our script and I was actually pretty good at it, in fact I liked it a lot more than acting out the lines. I learned a few tips here and there, took some classes on directing and screenwriting, and before I knew it I was the one sitting behind a camera telling people where to go and when to film.”

“And do you like it?” Yuuri asks. “More than acting?”

“Yeah, I really do.” Victor smiles. “But it makes me a little restless sometimes. My friend Chris says I'm always looking for a better story, that's part of the reason I came to Hasetsu.”

“Did you find one?”

Victor glances back at Yuuri and shakes his head.

“I'm afraid you only get one secret out of me tonight.” Victor smiles. “Now it’s my turn.”

“Ask away.” Yuuri sighs, looking back at the water with a solemn expression on his face.

Victor can see how tense Yuuri gets at this, and something about the look in his eyes tells Victor that there's something he just isn't ready to talk about yet.

“Why did you choose that song?”

Yuuri looks back up at him with his eyes wide open, clearly not expecting that to be his question. Victor smiles at him and nods his head.

“It's from my movie last year, _Aria_ , isn't it?” Victor asks him. “A bit of a depressing story to base a skating routine on, I was wondering why you chose it.”

It's not the question he wanted to ask, and Yuuri knows that too, but the relief in Yuuri’s eyes when he asked him about his music was worth more than the questions plaguing his mind.

Victor can wait.

“I-I don't know.” Yuuri tells him. “When I saw the movie I felt a connection with me and the main character, I wanted to skate to the song he sang.”

“You related to a retired opera singer gone mad with loneliness?” Victor smirks. “Doesn't sound like you I'm afraid.”

“But he's more than just that!” Yuuri argues. “He doesn't go crazy at the end like everyone says he does he just finds what he was looking for the whole movie. The main character wants to fall in love with singing again but doesn't know how to so he claims that he's infatuated with a mystery woman who sang a song he wants to learn as an excuse. When he finds out that the woman isn't real he still sings the song anyway because he learned to love his work again, even if it did drive him a little mad. He was an artist falling in love with his work all over again and I don't know, I wanted to recreate that passion. I wanted to understand how he could feel in that moment.”

Victor smiles as Yuuri rants about the film he worked on a little over a year ago. He spent what Chris considered an obsessive amount of time on set working with the actors and sitting in the editing room making sure it all came together the way he envisioned it.

“You should’ve been there with us on set.” Victor tells him. “Chris says I nearly drove the poor actor crazy making him do the same scenes over and over again.”

“Phichit says I do the same thing to my coach.” Yuuri smiles. “Sometimes I have to be reminded to go home if I’m working on a routine for too long.”

The conversation begins to drift from there and for the first time in a long time, Victor isn’t thinking about his next movie or when to crank out another script. He’s just having a regular conversation with someone and not thinking about anything other than the softness in Yuuri’s smile and how easy it is to fall into step with him.

By the time they make it back to the inn the sun has gone down and the night sky has settled over their heads.

“I really liked this.” Yuuri tells him. “Do you want to, maybe, do something like this tomorrow?”

“I’d like that.” Victor smiles. “I can meet you at the rink after your lessons.”

Yuuri nods and with a slight blush dusting his cheeks wishes Victor a goodnight before heading inside and to the back with his family. Victor doesn’t remember the walk back to his room or even how excited Makkachin was to see him when he opened the door and flopped down onto his bed. The day doesn’t feel real, Yuuri doesn’t seem real, and in spite of spending the whole day with a stranger Victor can’t help but feel elated from the whole experience.

The buzzing from his phone draws his attention and Victor can see a text message from Chris pop up on his lock screen.

_So how’d your date go?_

Victor lets out a contented sigh before opening his phone and replying back to his friend.

_Amazing_

The next day they go sightseeing, and Victor lets himself be shepherded around the town looking at different shops and tourist destinations. The next day they walk around on the beach and Victor laments about how much he wishes he didn’t work on the crappy teen romance movie he did when he was nineteen. The next day Yuuri tries to show him how to ice skate and they spend their whole evening watching Victor continuously fall on the ice and beg Yuuri to hold his hand the whole time. With all the time that they spend everyday Victor gets to know the little things about Yuuri. He learns about his favorite food, his loving family, and his passion for skating. He learns that before every competition he likes to drown out the crowd with music, and that his parents like to reward his victories with his favorite meal. They treat every little thing they learn about each other as secrets, and as the days roll by the unread messages from Victor’s parents pile up yet he can't seem to care.

“So why did you decide to come here?” Yuuri asks him one day.

“Well Chris kept telling me to go on a vacation because I'd been working myself ‘Too hard’ and I wasn't really in the mood to make anything else so I decided to travel.” Victor tells him.

“But why Hatsetsu?” Yuuri continues. “Why not a big city like Tokyo or Kyoto?”

Victor thinks about the places he’s visited over the past few months, all of them rather small towns with very little to do. He thinks about the large cities he's stayed at and the different people he's met each time in each place. He always feels like he's looking for something, it's hard to describe himself and everytime he leaves it's like he knows he won't find it there.

“I was looking for a story.” Victor smiles. “I've been looking for a reason to write since the Oscars.”

“Did you find one?” Yuuri asks.

“I'm afraid that would be two secrets.” Victor tells him. “Ask me tomorrow if you really want to know.”

As their walk comes to an end and the sun sets on Victor's last full day in Hatsetsu, the two fall asleep with a final question for the other playing in their mind. They are questions they know the other doesn't want to answer, and yet with time running out to ask they are the only ones the two can think of. While they both dread the next morning, Victor can't help but dread their final evening.

  


_EXT. AIRPORT - MORNING_

_A young boy with long blonde hair wearing a leopard print hoodie steps outside. The hood covers most of his face except for his sneer. He looks up at the sky and takes a deep breath._

_BOY_

_KAAAATSUUUUUKIIIIIII!_

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> Find me on tumblr here:  
> http://theladyofravenclaw.tumblr.com


	3. Chapter 3

Victor wakes up the next morning and opens up his phone to see a variety messages left by his mother from the past few days before noticing one from his dad. He stares at the number for a few seconds, his thumb hovering over the contact, before turning off the phone and sighing.

He looks over and notices Makkachin still fast asleep at the foot of his bed. He reaches over to scratch behind her ears, causing her to look up at him slightly annoyed.

“Sorry to wake you Makka.” Victor smiles. “But we should start packing up soon.”

Makkachin blinks up at Victor with tired eyes before drifting off to sleep again.

“Guess I'll just have to do that all by myself then.” He shakes his head, before getting out of bed and throwing on a shirt.

As Victor roams around the room gathering up his things his dog slowly starts to wake up, looking at him with sad eyes as he packs away their belongings. Victor looks over at the clock that reads 11:30 a.m and shakes his head.

He knew he was only supposed to stay here for the week, it wasn’t like this was a surprise to anyone. Besides, he doesn’t really have any excuse to stay.

But he knows that's a lie.

Despite that he finishes packing the rest of their belongings away and checks his phone to see a message from Yuuri.

_I have to stay by the rink a little bit longer today, sorry about that._

Victor frowns at this but shrugs it off.

_That’s alright._ He types out. _I’ll just meet you there._

As he makes his way through the hallway he can hear the sound of people shouting getting louder and louder until he finds himself in the lobby looking at a crowd of reporters trying to get inside and Mari doing her best to keep them out.

“Is it true that figure skater Plisetsky traveled here today to train with Yuuri Katsuki!?”

“Do you have any comments to make about your brother's retirement!?”

“Is it true that Yuuri Katsuki is planning to officially resign this year!?”

“We've told you before and I'll tell you again!” Mari yells through a small crack in the door. “Unless you're a paying guest you are not allowed inside our facilities! Either come for the hotsprings or go home!”

Victor watches as the reporters continue to ignore her and she shuts the doors on them. Letting out a sigh she looks up and he can see the large bags under her eyes.

“Long night?”

“No kidding.” She says. “I've been holding these guys back since three in the morning but they just won't stop. I hate it when the paparazzi show up on our doorstep.”

“But it's not like we're not used to it.” Hiroko sighs, walking into the room and eyeing the reporters outside. “I bet they already tried the rink if they're trying to get in here.”

“They never stood a chance against Yuuko.” Mari laughs. “What about you Victor? What were you and Yuuri gonna do today?”

“Just the usual.” Victor smiles. “Walk around, grab a bite to eat, go to the beach, but I think we might have to figure something else out today.”

“I'm sorry about this.” Mari frowns. “Usually they leave us alone, but ever since this morning they've been incredibly persistent.”

“Any idea why?” Victor asks her.

Mari opens her mouth to answer him only to be interrupted by the yelling outside.

“Is that Victor Nikiforov in there!?”

“Mr. Nikiforov why are you visiting Hatsetsu!?”

“Mr. Nikiforov is your next film going to be shot here!?”

“Mr. Nikiforov are you going to write your next film based on the retired skater Yuuri Katsuki!?”

“Victor, what is the relationship between you and Mr. Katsuki!?”

“Oh dear.” Hiroko sighs. “Looks like they've decided to leech onto you Victor. Don't worry we can sneak you out through the back.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Don't worry about it.” Mari tells him. “Wouldn't be the first time we snuck someone out.”

“We can check your room out later tonight.” Hiroko reassures him. “But for now, let's get you some breakfast.”

Victor spends the rest of his morning with Hiroko as they talk about his trip so far and where he’s planning to go next. He waits a few hours for the paparazzi outside to disperse only to see them growing in numbers. He hasn't even checked any of his social media, but he bets there are already plenty of articles going around about what he's doing here.

He really wanted to keep his travels quiet this time, not posting anything other than the occasional photo of Makkachin here and there. The fact that he's being followed by more cameras as he tries to relax is incredibly annoying.

He can only imagine how Yuuri is dealing with it.

After watching the number of reporters increase outside for some time now, Victor takes up Hiroko’s offer and is snuck out the back. She weaves him through the building and outside around the hotsprings before leading him towards a small dirt path right outside the property.

“Just go straight and it should lead to the ice rink.” She tells him. “If you run into any trouble with those reporters don't be afraid to ask for help, people in this town are used to driving them out.”

“Thank you.” He smiles.

He heads out and takes the small dirt path for a little bit until it turns back into the street he would walk on every morning. Sure enough there are no reporters hanging around where Victor can see them and he quickly makes his way to the ice rink.

Turning the corner he can see the rink up ahead and rushes up to it. As he does a small group of reporters notice him run past them and quickly gather up their things to approach him.

“Mr. Nikiforov, do you have any comments on the recent retirement of Yuuri Katsuki?” One of them asks, blocking his way to the door.

“I don’t have any comments on any of this.” Victor tells them. “Now please just let me through.”

“But Mr. Nikiforov what have you been-”

“What did I say about keeping your questions away from my business!” A woman’s voice cut’s through the air, interrupting the reporter. “Let him in and get out of my doorway!”

Victor turns around and sees Yuuko pushing her way in front of him and away from the reporter.

“Go ahead.” She tells him. “I can shoo them off.”

She gives Victor a quick smile and he ducks his way inside, leaving her to push the reporters off the building’s doorstep.

As he makes his way inside he notices how empty the facility is compared to yesterday after Yuuri’s morning lessons with the kids. As he wanders he can make out the sound of a song he’s never heard before coming from the ice rink. Making his way inside he sees Yuuri skating on the ice to the music and a young teenage boy with blonde hair watching from the bleachers, his shoulders hunched over and arms crossed.

He hears the door open behind him and looks back to see Yuuko make her way inside and notice the sight in front of him. She smiles as she notices Yuuri skate and stands next to Victor to watch the performance.

“I forgot how good he really is.” Yuuko tells him. “It’s been so long since he’s worked on something new.”

“I didn’t know he was working on it.”

“Neither did I.”

They stand there for a bit, watching Yuuri skate together, before she turns back to him.

“I’m sorry about all the reporters here today.” She shakes her head. “We didn’t know that Yurio would be showing up all of a sudden.”

“Yurio?” Victor asks. “Who’s that?”

“Oh, I forgot that you haven’t met him.” She laughs before pointing at the young teenage boy. “That's Yuri Plisetsky, he's one of Russia's top skaters but we call him Yurio around here. He's been following Yuuri like a lost kitten ever since his senior debut.”

“Ah, so he's a fan.” Victor smiles.

“I wouldn't let him hear you say that.” She tells him. “All he talks about is having the chance to beat Yuuri at the Grand Prix Final.”

Victor watches the young boy follow the routine laid out before them. His eyes are cold and focused, as if he's trying to find any mistakes or missteps in the program.

“So why is he here?” Victor asks her

She lets out a sigh and shakes her head.

“I don't know.”

The music comes to a stop as Yuuri finishes the routine and turns towards Yurio.

“It looks good.” Yurio tells him.

“Then it's yours.” Yuuri says, before stepping off the ice and sitting next to him.

“Fuck off.” Yurio snaps. “You know I didn't come all the way here to your shitty small town for a short program.”

“Yurio, I'm not-"

“Stop pulling excuses out of your ass!” Yurio exclaims. “Either stop sitting on your butt feeling sorry for yourself or go out there and tell everyone about your shitty retirement!”

Yuuri doesn't say anything, instead he calmly finishes unlacing his skates and puts them aside.

“It’s been a year.” Yurio sighs. “You promised me, I didn’t think you were one to quit so easily.”

“Then you didn’t really know me that well.”

In a huff, Yurio storms out of the room leaving Yuuri alone to stare at the ice.

As he walks away he crashes into Victor’s shoulder and turns to look at him, his face contorted with anger.

“Watch it asshole!” He screams before disappearing into the hallway.

Yuuko watches the scene play out with a sad expression on her face.

“I’ll go talk to him.” She says.

Victor nods his head and watches as she walks out the room to chase after Yurio, leaving him alone with Yuuri just a few feet away.

He walks up to him and notices the way in which Yuuri’s eyes seem to be staring blankly at the ice in front of him. No particular emotion playing on his face except for one as clear as day.

Fear.

“Sorry I’m late.” Victor says, hoping to pull him from his trance.

Yuuri straightens his back and turns to look at Victor, his expression slightly dazed as if he had just woken up.

“Victor!” Yuuri exclaims. “I’m so sorry about all of this, I honestly had no idea that Yurio was supposed to show up today!”

“Don’t worry about it.” Victor tries to reassure him. “I was more worried about how you were handling everything.”

Yuuri gives him a soft smile before shrugging his shoulders.

“I'm fine.”

It was almost completely transparent how much of a lie that was, but Victor decides to ignore this and give Yuuri a large smile.

“I haven't seen that routine of yours yet, is it new?” Victor asks him.

“I guess it kind of is.” Yuuri sighs. “I've had the music for a while, but I could never really come up with anything to go with it.”

“Well, I'd say you were able to put something together.” Victor smiles. “What's the song called?”

“On Love: Agape.” Yuuri tells him. “It's one out of a series of compositions about the different forms of love. Agape is supposed to be about unconditional and selfless love, which I thought would work best with me. However, I've never been able to capture it quite right.”

“Unconditional and selfless love, huh?” Victor muses. “Well, that just doesn't make any sense.”

“Why?” Yuuri asks him.

“Because, I've never met anyone as selfless as you.” Victor sighs. “I think you're just being too hard on yourself.”

When Victor looks back at Yuuri he can see a bright red blush covering his face as he tries to look away. Victor can't help but smile himself at the sight, it is truly unfair how lovely Yuuri can be at times.

“Either way it doesn't look like we're gonna be able to visit the market like we wanted to today.” Yuuri says, ignoring Victors previous comment. “I'm sorry about the paparazzi, they usually leave me alone after a while but with everyone in Hatsetsu lately they're a little..."

“Pushy?” Victor offers. “Don't worry about it, if there's anyone who's used to dealing with a bunch of cameras and reporters in their face its me.”

They hear the door to the rink open behind them and turn to see Yuuko walk in, her broom in hand as she wipes the sweat off her forehead.

“A couple more showed up here after Victor came in but I was able to chase them off.” She tells them. “You guys want some lunch? Looks like we might be eating in today if you don't mind.”

“Lunch would be great.” Victor smiles.

While Yuuko orders the takeout Victor pulls out his phone and opens instagram to see a flood of people speculating about what he's doing in the comments of his last photo. He skims through them for a bit before closing the app and opening up his email. He's already got a flood of messages from different publications asking him for a quick interview that he marks as spam.

Deciding that it's going to be a lot of damage control for the day he puts away his phone and walks over to see Yuuri doing the exact same thing he was doing in a different corner of the room.

“You're gonna fry your brain if you try to read it all you know.” Victor tells him.

Yuuri looks up from his phone and lets out a long and drawn out sigh.

“Yeah, I know.” Yuuri frowns. “Honestly, I just want to know what they're saying.”

He puts away his phone and Victor joins Yuuri in their corner of the room.

“So, who’s the kid from earlier?” Victor asks him.

“Oh, that's Yuri Plisetsky.” Yuuri tells him. “He's probably still somewhere in here to be honest. It's hard to avoid the reporters outside without Yuuko's help.”

“He a student or something?”

Yuuri lets out a belting laugh at this and shakes his head.

“No he's no, I'm pretty sure he'd kill you if you said that.” Yuuri smiles.

Victor takes a seat next to him and nods his head.

“Well I can't call both of you Yuuri that'll just get too confusing. Your family calls him Yurio right?”

“Yeah, my sister came up with the nickname a long time ago.” Yuuri tells him. “He's got a bit of a temper though I wouldn't-”

Before he can finish his sentence the sound of feet stomping draws their attention and Yurio enters the scene and takes a seat at one of the tables across the room.

Victor watches the young teen turn his back to the two of them, clearly trying to ignore them and distract himself with his phone. They all sit in silence for a few minutes before Yurio finally glances back at the two of them.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Yuuri tells him. “Just wanted to know what you're doing.”

Yurio doesn't answer him, instead he rolls his eyes and slumps back in his chair.

The room goes silent once again and Victor looks back and forth between Yurio grumbling and Yuuri's contemplation.

…

…

…

_‘Grooooooooooooooooooooowl’_

Victor looks over to see Yurio bashfully grab at his stomach as a deep red blush engulfs his face.

“Ah, so you’re hungry.”

Yurio snaps his head to look in Victor’s direction and glares daggers at him.

“Shut up old man!” He exclaims. “You don’t know who I am you don’t knowanythingabouthowlongI’vebeenwaitingaroundthisareaandwhothehelldoyouthinkyouare-”

“Guess who got us some lunch!”

Yuuko enters the room with two bags in hand that seem to be exuding a wonderful aroma. Yurio’s eyes travel to the source of the smell and his stomach lets out another intense growl that causes him to look away from the three of them in embarrassment.

This doesn’t seem to deter Yuuko however, as she sets the food down in front of them and starts to pull out different styrofoam containers and place them down on the table. Victor looks over to see Yurio awkwardly hovering over their shoulder and gestures toward the seat next to him.

“You should sit with us.”

Yurio hesitates for a moment before his stomach rips another intense growl and he begrudgingly takes the seat next to Victor.

Victor must have forgotten what it was like to have a teenager’s appetite because he watches in amazement as Yurio shovels down more food than he could consume in an hour like it was nothing. This seems to be no surprise to Yuuri and Yuuko as they watch the scene unfold with a smile on their faces.

“I guess you were hungry then huh?” Yuuri asks him.

Yurio looks back at him with his cheeks full of food and rolls his eyes before nodding his head. Yuuri laughs at this and smiles at the young boy.

“I hope you let Yakov know where you were going before you hopped on the plane here.” Yuuri tells him. “I don’t want to get another angry call from your coach because you felt like yelling at me.”

“There’s no way Yakov knows I’m here yet.” Yurio grumbles. “Besides I’m only gonna be here until you decide to compete again.”

“Who’s Yakov?” Victor asks them.

Yurio looks at Victor with wide eyes.

“You don’t know who Yakov is?” Yurio exclaims. “What have you been living under a rock?”

“He’s Yurio’s coach in Russia.” Yuuri tells him. “He’s turned out more champions for Russia than any other coach these past twenty years.”

“Ah, so I guess he’s pretty good then?”

Yurio looks as if he’s about to bang his head against the table while Yuuri gives Victor a soft smile and nods his head.

He’s pretty sure a quick Google search could’ve given him more information about the man but watching the young skater become increasingly annoyed with how little Victor seemed to know was infinitely more entertaining.

As they finish up their lunches Yurio becomes a bit more conversational as he begins to argue with Yuuri about calling his coach. Soon enough he’s making jokes at both of their expenses and they’re happy to let him roast them on being old by a fifteen year old’s standards.

Eventually Yuuri leaves the two of them alone and Yurio glances over at Victor hesitantly.

“So, you make movies right?”

“Yup.” Victor smiles. “Acted, directed, and wrote a couple of famous ones here and there. Why?”

A sparkle forms in Yurio’s eyes and not a moment later Victor finds himself down the rabbit hole of showing all the different types of animals they use on set and explaining how the trainers work with each of them. While Yurio really only wanted to know if he had ever worked with a tiger he was immediately enthralled by all the different wildlife and trainers Victor had worked with in his previous productions.

As they continue to scroll through the different behind the scenes photos Victor kept on his phone from his last film Yuuko makes her way back into the room and lets out a yawn.

“I would love to hide you guys in here all day, but I gotta close up the rink soon.” She tells them. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure the coast is clear for you guys to head back to the inn before you leave.”

“Where did Yuuri go?” Victor asks her.

“I found him back on the ice a couple of minutes ago.” She sighs. “One of you should probably warn him I’m about to close up shop.”

They make their way back to the ice and as they approach the same music from the first day he was here grows louder and louder. As this happens the look on Yurio’s face darkens and his shoulders tense up.

Out on the ice Yuuri is doing the same routine he does every day, and even though Victor has seen this performance countless times he is still floored by how beautiful it really is in person. He looks beside him to see Yurio glaring at Yuuri down below and nudges him on the shoulder.

“Something wrong?”

Yurio doesn’t answer for a moment before glancing up at Victor.

“Do you know why he’s still skating that same routine everyday?”

Not knowing the answer Victor shakes his head and Yurio lets out a sigh.

“Last year around this time Yuuri withdrew from the Grand Prix Final due to an ankle injury.” Yurio tells him. “And then he withdrew from nationals, and then decided to just take the season off. The thing is, this was his second major injury to his left ankle two years in a row. When a skater recovers from something like that it’s always a toss up with whether or not they’re gonna be able to continue to compete.”

Victor takes in this last statement and looks back down at Yuuri on the ice.

“No one really knew why but, this program was really important to Yuuri last season.” Yurio continues. “He had been practicing it nonstop for a while and had it perfected when suddenly-”

Yuuri takes off into a jump only to tumble onto the ice and slowly get back up.

“...that happened.”

Ignoring the fall Yuuri looks up to see the two of them staring down at him and makes his way to the edge of the rink.

“I know it's selfish to come all the way here so he’ll compete against me for my senior debut.” Yurio tells him. “But I don’t know what’s gonna happen if he just gives up now.”

Victor watches as Yurio makes his way down to greet Yuuri with a flurry of insults and he can’t help but take a moment to really let what he just learned sink in. The music he was skating to is cut off and Yuuri makes his way up to Victor with Yurio close behind.

“Hey, ready to head back?” Yuuri asks him.

“Yeah.” Victor says. “Ready when you are.”

Sure enough the path toward the inn is cleared as they make their way back and enter the hot springs through the same area that Victor took beforehand. The sun has set by the time they get back and as Victor finishes packing up his things he turns to see Hiroko smiling in the doorway.

“You can stay another night if you want.”

“I’m afraid my plane leaves tonight.” He tells her. “But I would if I could.”

She nods her head at this and walks over to scratch Makkachin behind the ears which she responds to with glee.

“We’re all gonna miss having you around here.” She tells him. “I think you really did a lot of good for Yuuri during your stay. Have you had a chance to speak to him?”

“No, we weren’t able to talk much at the rink.” Victor sighs. “He pretty much found himself on the ice all day while I got to know Yurio.”

She looks up at him and rolls her eyes.

“Oh, that boy.” She laughs. “Always trying to skate away his problems. Before you leave could you do me a favor? Can you make sure you have time to tell him goodbye?”

Victor gives her a nod and just like that she stands up from her spot beside Makkachin and lets out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you.”

As she walks out the door Victor looks over at Makkachin’s pouting face and lets out a sigh. He doesn’t really want to leave, but he knows that he can’t just stay here forever. Despite knowing this it still doesn’t feel right to just pack up and move on to the next town.

Deciding to clear his mind Victor finds himself sneaking out to take a walk along the beach.

_EXT. BEACH - NIGHT_

_The water is calm as it gently laps against the shore under the silver moonlight hanging overhead. A summer breeze travels through the air as it softly lifts a few strands of hair from Victor’s face._

_As he approaches the water’s edge he looks around to notice another familiar face across the way. Sitting there by the railing is Yuuri, unaware of Victor’s presence at the moment as he is looking in the other direction._

_Straightening up his shoulders and taking a deep breath we see Victor approach Yuuri and tap him on the shoulder._

“Hey.”

Yuuri jumps back slightly as he notices Victor standing there.

“Oh hey.” He sighs. “I didn’t think I’d see you around here. Sorry I’m still a little on edge about all the reporters in town right now.”

“I would be too.” Victor tells him. “They’re a bit like a swarm aren’t they?”

“Yeah.” Yuuri laughs. “They are.”

They stand there for a moment and simply watch as the waves roll in and the breeze brushes against their faces. Victor glances over at Yuuri to see him bury his face in his arms against the railings.

“So, this is my last night.”

Yuuri doesn’t respond so Victor decides to keep going.

“I didn’t think it would be so hard to leave Hasetsu behind.” Victor tells him. “But I guess there’s just something about this place that makes me want to stay. I haven’t felt that way about somewhere in a long time.”

“I know that feeling.”

Victor glances down at Yuuri straightening himself up.

“I didn’t want to leave Hasetsu to train in America at first.” Yuuri tells him. “I tried to come up with as many excuses as to why I needed to stay, but the truth is I was just scared to leave home.”

The air around them grows still as Yuuri looks up at Victor with a pained smile on his face.

“You still have one more secret to tell me you know.”

“I know.” Victor sighs. “But only if you tell me yours first.”

Yuuri nods his head and Victor takes a deep breath.

“Are you going back?”

There’s a beat of silence as they let Victor’s question hang in the air.

“...I don’t know if I can.”

Yuuri’s shoulders slump as the words finally escape his mouth.

“I really messed up my ankle when I took that fall last year.” Yuuri tells him. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen if I mess it up again. And it doesn’t help that everyone around me is just watching and waiting for me to make a decision I’m not sure I’m ready to make. If I go back to the ice then everyone is gonna expect me to skate like I did before, and if I retire people will want me to go into coaching younger skaters. I can’t do either of those things, and Yurio wants me to drop everything and train with him in Russia for the next Grand Prix but I don’t even know where to go from here. I just feel like I’m-”

“Lost?”

Yuuri looks up at Victor and nods his head.

“Yeah.” Yuuri says. “I feel lost.”

Victor takes in everything that Yuuri just said and looks over at the water.

“I’ve been there too.” He tells Yuuri. “I didn’t know what I was gonna do when I decided to quit being an actor. My parents were mad, my agent was pissed, but the people who wanted to see what I could do had no idea what to expect of me either. I really just was alone in that decision to branch off on my own, and when I finally did get to do the work I wanted to do nobody would take me seriously.”

Victor turns back to Yuuri and sighs.

“But it wasn’t about them.” He tells him. “I was doing the work that I wanted to do. So I know we haven’t done this before but I’m changing my question.”

Yuuri looks up at him and nods his head.

“Alright then.” He hesitates. “What’s your question?”

Victor gives him a soft smile and speaks.

“Do _you_ want to go back?”

Yuuri stares at a him in shock and Victor stands there waiting for an answer.

After what feels like years Yuuri finally opens his mouth.

“Come with me.”

“What?” Victor exclaims.

“Come with me.” Yuuri tells him. “Why not? There’s nothing stopping us from going together so why not?”

Victor shakes his head in disbelief.

“We’ve known each other for a week.” He tells him, trying to fight back a smile. “And I’ve got a plane to catch tonight.”

“I know and I don’t care.” Yuuri shakes his head. “I know it's crazy and I know we’ve barely had any time to really get to know each other but if you’re asking me what it is I want then that’s my answer. I want you to come with me.”

“What will I do in Russia?”

“I don’t know.”

“The media would have a field day.”

“I know.”

“What about my story?” Victor asks him. “You still haven’t asked me if I’ve found it yet.”

Yuuri nods his head at this and sighs.

“I figured you already had.”

Victor’s takes a deep breath and reaches out to grab Yuuri's hand.

“Come with me.” Yuuri tells him. “I’m not ready to say goodbye.”

Yuuri’s words rest in Victor’s head the entire walk back. They don’t say much to each other on the way to the inn, but their hands remain interlocked until they reach the building.

As Victor makes his way back to his room he closes the door and slumps down on his bed. Looking around at the different luggage already packed and his dog staring up at him patiently he pulls out his phone and texts Chris.

_Hey, do me a favor and tell me I’m crazy._

He stares at his phone for a moment before a reply pops up.

_Whatever you’re about to do, you sir are a madman._

 

_INT. INN - MORNING_

_The next morning Yuuri wakes up and makes his way to the dining area where his family is enjoying breakfast. He walks past Victor’s room and hesitates for a moment before shaking his head and moving forward._

_As he walks into the dining area he hears the sound of the TV playing and his family chattering away. Looking up he catches a glimpse of silver hair before being tackled to the ground by a large brown dog._

_The dog licks his face repeatedly and he sees a familiar figure standing over him._

_Victor smiles as he extends a hand to help him up._

_VICTOR_

_I missed my flight._

 


	4. Act II

It's been years since Victor last visited Russia.

His mom and dad use to fly him to St. Petersburg when he was a kid to visit his grandparents. It was one of the few times he didn’t have to deal with a camera being shoved in his face. Once he got a little older their visits became less frequent as Victor’s acting career started to take off, and when his grandparents passed away they stopped going all together.

There was a house nearby that his family would rent when they'd visit for the holidays. Victor’s mom insisted on staying there since his grandmother didn’t have a lot of space. When he was a kid the place felt like a mansion.

But now that he’s older it seems...cozy.

His mother was a bit surprised when he asked her whether or not they were still able to use the house. However, after a few phone calls, and a bit of scolding from her for ignoring her messages, she was able to help him pull a few strings and find a place to sleep.

Makkachin wasted no time in getting to know the layout of the building. As soon as they walked through the front door she happily started running through the halls and jumping on top of the furniture. She was still a puppy the last time they visited so Victor doubted that she would have any memories of the house from before.

He watches her make herself at home and goes to throw his luggage in the master bedroom. Looking around he finds a few older pictures of his family when he was a kid put up on the mantle and on the bedside. One in particular had him standing between his mom and dad in front of a large cathedral. Victor remembers how he use to complain about staying inside all the time when they came to town and practically dragging them out to look at some of the landmarks. His mother did her best to act excited to be out and about while his dad would roll his eyes and complain about the tourists who he was sure would recognize them.

Surprisingly it was his father who decided to make them take the picture. It was one of the few family photos they had where they weren’t on a red carpet or hiding from the paparazzi.

A thin layer of dust sits on top of the glass protecting the picture, Victor puts the frame back and lays down on the bed.

It feels weird sleeping in the same room his parents did so long ago, but he doubts his old bed would be big enough for him to sleep in now. The mattress was too small for him as it was the last time they stayed here and it didn’t help that Makkachin tried to sleep in the same bed as him even when she was a puppy.

His phone buzzes and he pulls it out to see a message from his mother.

_Did you get there alright?_

He stares at the message for a while, his thumb hovering over the home button, before letting out a sigh and turning it off.

It still feels weird to be back in this place after being gone for so long, despite everything that’s happened in Victor's life the house itself remains untouched. A faded memory of family vacations and childish wonder that was left to its own devices outside the passage of time.

As if he never left.

It’s not like he doesn’t want to be on speaking terms with his parents it’s just that sometimes things like this are complicated. His father was never one to really try and communicate with Victor on a personal level, and his mother wasn’t the easiest person to talk to some days but she tried.

That’s not to say that Victor isn’t also responsible for the rift between him and his parents. There are some things that he regrets in regards to their family and maybe he shouldn’t push them away so much when they do try to make an honest effort to fix things, but at this point they're going to need more than a few phone calls and Christmas visits to fix the distance between them.

His phone buzzes again and a message from Yuuri pops up on his screen.

_Hey, we’re heading over to the rink right now if you wanna meet us there?_

Victor smiles as he reads this and quickly types out his reply.

_I’ll be there in just a bit._

The ice rink in Hasetsu is just a little bit smaller than the one they have here in Russia.

That's a lie, it’s tiny compared to the giant rink looming over Victor’s head at the moment. Yuuri and Yurio wait for him outside by the entrance and waves him over.

“What took you so long old man?” Yurio asks him. “We’ve been standing around for hours!”

“That’s an exaggeration.” Yuuri sighs. “Come on, we should go make sure Yakov is here before we make any further plans.”

He follows them inside the massive building at a small distance and really takes the time to absorb his surroundings. While the Ice Castle in Hasetsu was smaller in size this place seems to tower overhead like an arena. More seats than he can count surround the ice down below as skaters practice their routines.

An older man with a permanent scowl on his face is reprimanding a girl with red hair on the ice. He's wearing a long dark coat and his face seems to turn red as he shouts at the girl who is visibly ignoring him. Suddenly she turns her head to see the three of them and her eyes widen before pointing them out to the older man.

He looks up at them and sees Yurio and Yuuri approaching, his expression goes from annoyed to outraged.

“I guess he noticed you were gone.” Yuuri says glancing back at Yurio.

Yurio shoves his hands in his pockets and tries to sink into his hoodie.

“YURI PLISETSKY WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?”

Victor watches the older man approach them while he scolds Yurio and shakes his head.

“Geez Yakov, it wasn’t that big of a deal.” Yurio rolls his eyes. “You’re acting like I commited murder or something.”

“How else am I supposed to react to one of my star skaters running off to Japan with no notice!?” Yakov exclaims. “The next time you pull something like that you better not expect a coach when you come back!”

Yurio shrinks further into his jacket as Yakov continues to tell him off before finally turning his attention toward Yuuri.

Yakov’s demeanor shifts at this, his shoulders loosen up and his scowl grows soft but remains in it’s rigid and sour frown.

“So why are you here Katsuki?” Yakov asks him. “Surely it’s not to steal one of my students before you retire.”

Yuuri shakes his head at this and with a smile sighs.

“No, Yurio’s the one that dragged me here actually.”

Yakov nods at this and crosses his arms.

“Why?”

There’s a beat of silence that hangs in the air as Yuuri finds himself unable to explain the situation. Victor catches the shift in mood as both skaters stand there awkwardly unable to really say anything. Taking a deep breath Victor puts on his best smile and holds his hand out to greet Yakov.

“Hi, my name is Victor, it’s nice to meet you.”

Yakov glances over at Victor and looks him up and down before reaching out to shake his hand.

“Yakov Feltsman.” He tells him. “I don’t believe we’ve met before, how did you get tied up with this lot?”

“I’m a friend of Yuuri’s.” Victor smiles. “I actually met him while trying to come up with the script for my next movie. I’m sure you’ve seen some of my work before.”

“Sorry, don’t watch many films these days.”

Victor feels the color drain from his face at this comment and is fully aware of how uncomfortable he feels when Yakov turns away from him and back towards Yurio.

“I’ll meet you down on the ice in ten.” He says before glancing back at Yuuri. “As for you, we should discuss this in my office later.”

With that Yakov heads back down towards the ice below. All the tension building up in Yuuri’s shoulders is released as both him and Yurio take a deep sigh in unison.

“Well, that could’ve gone worse.” Yuuri tells them.

“Yeah, for you.” Yurio huffs. “I’ll be lucky if I don’t end up dead from exhaustion by the end of the day. I guess I should go get ready to practice my step sequence for three hours straight.”

And with that Yurio rushes off to the locker room leaving Yuuri and Victor by themselves. Yuuri gives Victor a soft smile and shakes his head.

“Sorry if he comes off as a little cold at first.” He says. “He’s not exactly known for being the most tactful person in the whole world.”

“Not everyone’s a fan I guess.” Victor shrugs. “Hopefully he doesn’t kick me out before I can really get a feel for what kind of work you guys do.”

“I doubt he’ll kick you out at all.” Yuuri laughs. “Come on, let me show you around the rink while we wait.”

After going on an impromptu tour of the facility Victor begins to feel a little bit more comfortable with his new surroundings. Yuuri points out the names of the skaters down below and gives him a quick rundown of what they're working on.

The girl with the red hair from before is apparently Mila Babicheva, a senior in the lady figure skating world. She's currently ranked third in international Ladies Singles and the current Nationals champ as of this last season. Practicing alongside her is a young man by the name of Georgi Popovich. Yuuri mentions his ability to really bring out his emotions in each skate which usually helps his PC scores during competition.

Soon enough Yurio makes his way to the ice and begins his warm up. Yakov moves on to work with him and makes Yurio run through a series of what look like different types of drills to get the skater started.

It’s interesting watching the way that each of them work on their own in terms of their routines and warm ups. Each skater has their own approach to how they spend their time practicing that links up to the personalities they display. It’s different from the few times he got to watch Yuuri back at the Ice Castle, he was always so focused and closed off when he wanted to work on something.

Watching Yakov adapt to each of the skaters themselves is also something that Victor found interesting. While he seems to be a bit more tough and strict with Mila and Yurio it seems that his demeanor immediately shifts to a bit more patient when it comes to Georgi. It’s far different from the classes that he would see Yuuri teach with the kids, he seems to have his own methods for getting each skater to improve in their own ways.

But for the moment it seems like he’s just making Yurio run through a step sequence on repeat as punishment.

“So is this what it usually looks like?” Victor asks Yuuri.

“Well, for most it is.” Yuuri tells him. “Yakov only coaches a select few skaters and all of them are Russian so he doesn’t have as many people at his practices as I did back in Detroit. My old coach use to take international students from all over the world so we had quite a few people on the ice at once.”

“Sounds crowded.”

Yuuri smiles at this.

“It could be some days, but I usually didn’t mind too much.”

As the practice comes to an end Yakov makes his way to where they’re sitting and gestures at Yuuri to follow him.

“C’mon.” He says. “Let’s talk about this in my office.”

Yuuri nods at this and gets up to follow him.

“I’ll be right back.” He tells Victor before following Yakov out of sight.

Victor looks down at the skaters below putting away their stuff and walks over to Yurio who seems to be caught in a heated debate with Mila.

“If you call me short one more time I’m gonna rip you apart hag!”

“With those tiny arms?” Mila laughs. “Are you sure you’ll be able to reach?”

Noticing the conflict going on next to him Georgie turns to look back and sighs.

“Why do you two always bring conflict onto the ice?”

Looking up from their playful banter Mila notices him approach and waves him over.

“Hey!” She exclaims. “You’re that Hollywood guy that Yuri was complaining about earlier!”

Victor smiles at this and walks up to them.

“That’s me.” He says reaching out a hand to greet them. “I’m Victor Nikiforov, it’s nice to meet you two.”

She shakes his hand and smiles.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Mila and this is Georgi.”

“Weren’t you in that movie _Summer Winds_ a while ago?” Georgi asks him. “I loved that movie! So much emotional turmoil and beautiful romance, you truly were amazing in it.”

Victor grimaces at the mention of an earlier romcom from when he was younger. That movie in particular was incredibly hard to finish making as the director kept making changes last minute and his costar was hard to get along with. However, he knows how much people tend to eat those stories up and it seems like Georgi falls into that category.

“Yeah, that was one of my earlier films.” Victor smiles at him. “I assume you’re a fan unlike your coach?”

Mila laughs at this while Georgi sighs.

“Yakov doesn’t have fun.” She tells him. “I wouldn’t take it personally, the most television I’ve ever seen him watch was a nature documentary. And even then, he only put it on because Yuri made him.”

Georgi nods his head at this and looks around the ice rink.

“I’m assuming they went to go talk then?”

“Yeah that was the plan.” Victor nods. “I don’t know how long that’ll take though.”

Yurio rolls his eyes at them and finishes packing up his things.

“They’re just figuring out what to do for the next season guys.” He tells them. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

Mila looks over at him with a smirk on her face and puts her hands on her hips.

“Then why’d you drag him all the way to Russia?”

“Because he’s an idiot that makes bad decisions!”

“Sure.” She smiles. “You know, it’s going to be confusing having two Yuri’s in the same place. We should really figure out how to distinguish between you two.”

“Oh, so you don’t know about Yurio’s nickname in Japan?”

“Yurio?” Mila looks over at him confused. “Which one is Yurio?”

She looks back to see Yurio fuming behind her and a smile forms on her face as she realizes who he is talking about.

“You never told us you had a nickname _Yurio._ ”

“BECAUSE IT’S NOT MY NAME YOU OLD HAG!”

They stay there for a while talking and Victor really takes the opportunity to get to know the two skaters.

Mila is nice to talk to, she tells him the in’s and out’s of the rink and is more than happy to crack a few jokes here and there about their work in Russia. Georgi continues to ask him about his work in the film industry as an actor and what that was like.

After waiting for over half an hour Yurio gets up from his seat and gathers up his things.

“I’m gonna go check on Yuuri.” He says. “Make sure Yakov didn’t rip into him or anything.”

Victor watches as he heads off and turns to look at the other two who are also gathering up their bags and standing up.

“We should head out too.” Mila sighs. “It’s getting late and I want to watch my soaps. I guess we’ll see you guys tomorrow?”

“Probably Yuuri and Yurio but I might stay back.” Victor tells her.

She looks over at Georgi who shrugs before walking off without her.

“Hey Victor do you mind if I ask you something?”

Victor shakes his head.

“I don’t mind.” He says. “What’s up?”

“If you’re a writer, why are you here in Russia?”

Victor doesn’t answer her at first, instead he gives her a shrug and lets out a sigh.

“I’m here to write a script.” He tells her. “I don’t know what kind of movie it’s going to be yet, I just know that I was supposed to come here and find it.”

She frowns at this and shakes her head.

“What’s the _real_ reason you’re here?”

He looks up at her confused and she glances in the direction that Yuuri and Yurio ran off in.

“You didn’t need to come all the way here for a script.” She says. “But you did, and now that you’re here I think you should stop coming up with excuses and face the facts. This is the world we live in, as artists and athletes, it’s not something you can really learn from reading a wikipedia article online. What we go through, everything we’ve worked toward and sacrificed, it’s not something someone can comprehend from the outside. If you really want to understand that kind of life, you should come back tomorrow. You might even be able to learn a bit about what this world is like for us.”

She looks back at him and gives him a soft smile.

“What it’s like for him.”

Mila waves her hand and heads out, leaving him sitting on the bleachers alone. He glances back at the ice and sees the zamboni begin to make its way across the surface, erasing every mark and cut made from the day.

 

_EXT. ICE RINK - AFTERNOON_

_The sky is overcast with dark gray clouds that splash rain down at full force soaking the roads and sidewalks. Standing at the entrance of the building watching the downpour is Victor, his eyes carefully surveying the scene._

_He holds a hand out from under the cover of the building and catches a few of the raindrops in his palm, a soft smile forms on his face as the storm grows._

_Even though the sound of the rain smacking the pavement is as loud as the thunder from above the scene is peaceful for a brief moment._

 

A door opens from behind him and Victor turns around to see Yuuri walk outside with his shoulders slumped and head down. His glum expression changes when he notices Victor standing there.

“Hey.” Yuuri says, looking over at the storm pouring down on them. “I guess I really should’ve let Yurio wait for me after all.”

“No ride?”

“Nope.” He sighs. “I guess I can call a cab to drive me over.”

Victor looks over at Yuuri and can see the weight of the day reflected in his eyes and shakes his head.

“I’ll drive you.”

Yuuri’s eyes widen at this and he looks at Victor confused.

“What?”

“I rented a car before we got here.” He tells Yuuri. “Come on, I’ll give you a lift to Yurio’s house.”

With that Victor shrugs his hood over his head and gestures for Yuuri to follow him towards the parking lot.

They dash past several cars with their heads low until coming across the small silver rental that Victor paid for when he arrived in Saint Petersburg. It isn’t flashy or extravagant like the one he has in California, but he likes it.

They duck inside and shut the doors before any of the rain can leak inside. Victor goes to turn on the radio only to be greeted by static on every station. Yuuri notices this and takes out his phone.

“I can put some music on.” He says. “I’ve got a playlist I’ve been meaning to listen to.”

“Alright.” Victor nods before handing him the aux cord.

They sit in silence listening to the variety of artists and genres on Yuuri’s phone as the storm drones on.

Victor glances over at Yuuri staring out the window every once in a while. His eyes are almost blank as he focuses on the scenery outside and he can tell that something must be weighing on his mind.

“Got a lot to think about?” Victor asks him.

Yuuri looks back over at him and shrugs his shoulders.

“Nothing I didn't already know.” He tells Victor. “We called my old coach to make sure he was fine with the switch. While he wasn't too happy about losing me as a skater, he did make sure to wish me luck.”

“That must've been hard.”

Yuuri nods his head and glances back out the window.

“Yeah, it was.”

The silence returns and Victor decides to drop the topic entirely.

As they continue the drive suddenly the soft piano music that had been playing from Yuuri's phone shifts into a fast paced tango. Victor notices the change in style and glances over at Yuuri with a smile.

“What is this?” He laughs.

A bright pink blush forms on Yuuri's face.

“Sorry about that.” He says. “I forgot I put this song on here. Remember that routine I showed Yurio back in Hatsetsu?”

Victor nods and Yuuri sighs.

“The composer who wrote that song also wrote this one on the same album.” Yuuri tells him. “It's basically the same song but with a different take on love.”

“So instead of Agape what's this one about?”

The blush on Yuuri's face spreads and he looks away for a second.

“...Eros, or uh, sexual love.”

Victor's eyes widen at this and he looks over at Yuuri's bashful expression and lets out a bellowing laugh. Yuuri, clearly not as amused as Victor seems to be, looks up at him slightly annoyed.

“What?” He asks Victor. “Not something you can see me doing?”

“No it's absolutely something I can see you pulling off.” Victor tells him. “But it’s definitely not like anything else we’ve listened to this whole ride. Why don’t you skate to something like this every once in a while?”

“I don’t know, it just doesn’t fit with what I usually do.”  Yuuri sighs. “It’s definitely not like anyone would expect me to do a routine based on sexual love.”

The song comes to an end and Victor glances back over at Yuuri with a smile.

“No but it would definitely get people's attention.”

Yuuri nods his head at this and looks up at Victor, whatever weight he had on his shoulders from before seems to be lifted as his expression and demeanor becomes more relaxed with their conversation.

Victor pulls into Yurio’s neighborhood and parks in front of the house. The rain is still pouring down onto the car roof and Yuuri hesitates to step outside.

“I don’t know if I’m ready to do this.”

Victor doesn’t respond, deciding to put the car in park instead and listen.

“I just keep going back to what happened in the last season.” Yuuri sighs. “How frustrated I was with just sitting back and watching everyone else work and skate while I waited for my ankle to recover. Then when it finally did I was too scared to actually step back on the ice, I didn’t want to mess myself up again. And now I’m finally ready to get back out there and I’m just…”

He trails off from there and takes a deep breath before looking up at Victor.

“Would it be stupid of me to say I feel stuck?”

“No.” Victor tells him. “Yuuri, it’s normal to be scared to go back to something that’s important to you after taking a break. I feel like I can’t put down a single sentence after I step away from writing for a few days, let alone a year. But the fact that you made this trip, the fact that you’re even here right now in _Russia_ talking to coaches and listening to program music lets me know that you’re more than ready to get back on the ice. If there’s anyone who can make a leap of faith like this it’s you, I just know it.”

Yuuri’s eyes start to tear up and he throws his arms around Victor and pulls him into a hug.

“Thank you.”

After dropping Yuuri off at Yurio’s home, Victor makes his way back to the house and pulls up in the driveway. He walks through the door to find Makkachin asleep on the living room floor and walks up to scratch behind her ears, stirring her from her sleep.

“We’ve still got a bit of sunlight if you wanna take a walk?” He asks and her ears perk up at the suggestion.

They wait a bit for the rain to finally clear up and take a quick walk around the neighborhood. The streets look basically the same as they had twenty years ago, only with a few alterations here and there. The most obvious one being a public park nearby that he probably would’ve escaped to every summer as a kid.

His mind begins to wander as the last rays of the day start closing in and they are forced to retreat back inside the house. If he’s being honest the reason why he followed Yuuri to Russia doesn’t really make any sense. He can write a script from anywhere in the world, and if he was really that dedicated to making sure the story was accurate he could’ve poured some extra hours into research on different ice skating careers. But he didn’t, he came here, and some part of him can’t seem to understand that irrational decision.

He is a stranger to this world, to the people, and to their lives. While he himself has been in the position of not knowing everyone automatically before, he’s never been completely alone in the process. It feels like he’s relearning how to write. Everything around him is so different, but with all the confusion there is also Yuuri.

The thing about actually putting the words down on a Final Draft document is once he commits himself to the story it will no longer be his alone. Victor doesn’t write to appease himself and shove the contents away never to be seen, his work demands an audience. The problem isn’t whether or not he knows what he’s going to write yet, it’s if he is willing to lift the veil of where he’s been hiding and let other people look inside. But if this is really the path he’s chosen then Mila is right, there’s no point in hesitating any longer.

He opens his phone to see his mother’s text from this morning still left unread and sends her back a quick message to let her know he’s okay. She doesn’t respond but he can see she read it, probably for the better anyway, it’s most likely late at night where she is.

The next morning Victor wakes up to see notifications on his phone from Twitter alerting him about the latest stories he’s been tagged in. However, he sees that people are actually talking about Yuuri, and the announcement he made about returning to competition this year. A smile forms on his as he goes through the different articles detailing the situation and decides to get ready for the day.

After pulling himself out of bed he makes some breakfast for himself and looks down at his phone to check the time. Noticing he still has a few hours before Yuuri and Yurio would be at the ice rink Victor grabs his laptop and let's it power up while he finishes his meal and settles down in front of the computer. An empty blank page stares up at him with a blinking cursor waiting for him to put his thoughts into words, and words into narrative.

Like everything else in his life, it begins with a logline.

 

_EXT. BEACH - DAY_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glad I got another chapter out, I was planning on updating last week but I got a little busy with some schoolwork. However I am happy to get this chapter out and I am already working on the next one. Hopefully I'll be able to post it soon but in the meantime I hope you guys enjoy this update!


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